On the 23rd of May 1914, Komagata Maru, a Japanese steamer chugged into Vancouver harbour. On board were 376 dreamers from India, people who had the courage to dream of a new life, a better life in the New World. However, as they would soon find out, such dreams were the preserve of the select few; and certainly not for people of colour. Thanks to erstwhile Canadian immigration laws that had been specifically designed to dissuade people of colour from immigrating, only 20 of the 376 on board the steamer were allowed to enter Canada. Despite enormous efforts by the erstwhile Indo-Canadian community in Vancouver, the Ghadar Party and other progressives within the Canadian society, the overwhelming majority were forced to return to India on board the same ship. Upon reaching Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta) harbour, the exhausted and weary travellers were brutally attacked by the British Indian colonial police, who considered them to be potential troublemakers . Up to 40 innocent people lost their lives due to this ordeal. The Komagata Maru incident remains one of the darkest episodes in Canada’s modern history, and one of the most traumatic for its South Asian immigrant community.
To commemorate the incident, the Indo-Canadian Workers Association were presented with a proclamation by Jinny Sims, MLA from Surrey-Panorama on the 23rd of May, 2024, known today as Komagata Maru Day. The proclamation which has been issued by the government of British Columbia, remembers and honours the 376 innocent souls, on board the Komagata Maru, who had to suffer due to the shamefully racist immigration policies prevalent in Canada back then. The proclamation was received by members of ICWA’s executive committee in a small ceremony in Surrey, BC.
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